Music

Kooley High

Choosing music for a film is as important as the editing decisions, but for independent films, music is nearly impossible to afford. Often, independent filmmakers must sacrifice quality and originality for to accommodate little to no budget, the repercussions of which can be severe. Sitting through a low budget soundtrack can be excruciating experience that distracts the audience from the actual content of the film. However, for All of Us, I was able to work with a local hip hop group, Kooley High, that I discovered during an Amendment One rally at the Pinhook in Durham NC. They were generous in supporting a DIY passion project and gave me sliding scale access to two songs of my choice: Big Headed and Ya Time’s Up. To supplement the rest of the music for the film, I used the Vimeo Music Store. It’s a place where composers and bands can upload their own music for anyone to license. The musicians also define the terms of their license and attribution. There is a plethora of free, creative commons licensed music on the site. Otherwise, each track costs $1.99 for personal use, or $98 for use in films that get into festivals or have professional distribution. I highly recommend Vimeo for this music service. I’ve found really wonderful tracks on there, though it does require a lot of digging.

Music Credits for All of Us

The Year “Mooami”

857 “Enjoy the View”

Kooley High “Ya Time’s Up”

Urban D “Hip Hop”

Mud Sun “Mine the Gap”

Kooley High “Big Headed”

Mud Sun “2013″

Wildabeast “Just Fine”

Daddy Scrabble “The Monkeys Have Arrived”

Quote

“All of Us NC moved me deeply and gave me an instructive tool to help social justice activists understand that progress comes in many legitimate forms. Watch it to learn how to squeeze the best results out of attack and loss.”
– Rinku Sen, Executive Director of the Applied Research Center and Publisher of Colorlines.com

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Contact

Sowjanya Kudva
sowj (at) sowjfilms (dot) com

I am a queer, South Asian filmmaker who believes that well-made, self-representative media is key to building powerful queer communities.

I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to contact me at sowj (at) sowjfilms (dot) com if you have questions, comments, or you want to bring this film to your community.